Originally published via Armageddon Prose Substack:
“Nothing exceeds like excess.”
(I caught some shit the last time I used that quote at Armageddon Prose because I attributed it to Michelle Pfeiffer’s character in Scarface, when apparently she was modifying an Oscar Wilde quote, “Nothing succeeds like excess.” Whatever; I never claimed to be overly cultured.)
RFK Jr., ceaselessly ridiculed and sidelined in the corporate state media, has certainly delivered on that ethos. He – and, more importantly, the message he champions — simply won’t go away.
Via Quinnipiac:
“When the hypothetical 2024 general election matchup broadens to include environmental lawyer and anti- vaccine activist* Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. who is running as an independent candidate, Biden receives 39 percent support, Trump receives 36 percent support, and Kennedy receives 22 percent support.
Among independents, 36 percent support Kennedy, 31 percent support Trump, and 30 percent support Biden.”
*Note the tired “anti-vaccine activist” smear in Quinnipiac’s framing of who RFK Jr. is and what his campaign is about, despite the fact that his position on vaccines a.) isn’t total opposition and b.) is a tiny fraction of what issues he discusses. These mainstream outlets are seemingly contractually obligated by their pharmaceutical sponsors to repeat the “anti-vaxxer” talking point whenever they mention RFK Jr.’s name.
Since RFK Jr. fled the Democrat plantation and went independent, there has much speculation by mainstream pundits in the service of the duopoly regarding from whose camp – Trump’s or Biden’s – RFK Jr. will draw more support. Often, the speculation is framed in terms such as RFK Jr. “stealing votes” from Biden or Trump, etc.
When Trump or Biden lose, partisans from their respective camps are going to blame RFK Jr. right away as a means of coping with their failure. We saw this play out with Green Party candidate Jill Stein following Hillary’s historic loss in 2016 and a hundred other elections over time.
Let’s clear this narrative mess up preemptively: it’s not RFK Jr.’s job to get Joseph Brandon or Donald Trump, or anyone else, elected. That’s the candidate’s responsibility, and when he falls short, it will be his fault.
I hope nothing but failure for the Brandon entity and its handlers, so I won’t bother giving them any advice. This is for the other side: if MAGA hopes to retake the White House in 2024, Trump’s going to need all the help he can get, which includes attracting RFK Jr.’s supporters.
For one thing, he needs to cease immediately bragging about Operation Warp Speed — his disastrous pharmaceutical gravy train scam to get Pfizer and Modern’s “vaccines” approved in record time – that is clearly, in retrospect, as it should have been at the time, a total disaster from a true public health perspective.
Trump, further, needs to get real about how he’s going to pursue COVID justice against the likes of Anthony Fauci. Pointless hearings in the Congress aren’t going to cut it anymore. Those are fine, but people need to go to prison. We as free people need to get to these people criminally before they’re allowed to die of natural causes, free and rich.
Second, Trump needs to get serious about how he’s going to #DraintheSwamp – specific steps to purge every federal agency of its Deep State minions and remove them from public service once and for all. Tossing out red-meat rhetoric along these lines at rallies, similarly, isn’t going to work any longer to turn out the base.
This is what RFK Jr. supporters want, and it’s not overly complicated. The clock is ticking on Trump’s political viability. Let’s see what he can do to get RFK Jr. supporters on board. Guaranteeing him a prominent cabinet spot, such as Attorney General (he’s a lawyer after all) with a blank check to rain legal hell on the Deep State would be an excellent start.
Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.
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